Ratings War
Both companies have won the ratings battle coming off their respective pay-per-view events. Coming off Halloween Havoc, WCW Monday Nitro (2.5) defeated WWE Raw (2.2) to get their second win in this war. At Halloween Havoc, Hulk Hogan retained the WCW World Title, but the highlight of the night was The Giant falling from a five-story building and surviving. He was able to return minutes later to face Hogan in a twenty minute match. That was enough to make viewers tune in to Nitro to see the aftermath of this scenario. Hogan has also been hinting of turning heel or having heel mannerisms as a babyface. He wears black now and his character has more of an edge. That can also be another reason why Nitro won the ratings. Over on Raw, Owen Hart challenged Razor Ramon for the IC Title. Owen won the battle royal the previous week to earn his shot.

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Monday Nitro Highlight of the Night
The Giant fell from a five-story building in a monster truck match against WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan at the Halloween Havoc PPV. The Giant survived the fall and came back to wrestle Hogan in a twenty-minute match.

A new WCW pay-per-view in November to counter the Survivor Series: World War 3. The main event will feature a 60-man battle royal in three separate rings. Something must be at stake in this match. I don’t know who came up with this idea, but I don’t like it. I feel that those fans in attendance are getting ripped off. It’s hard to keep track of the action in one ring. Imagine keeping track of three rings at the same time? I understand WCW wants to get clever and get the upper hand on the WWE, though.

Two heel turns at Halloween Havoc: Lex Luger showed his alliance with The Dungeon of Doom. Ric Flair turned heel on Sting in their tag team match with Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. Luger is going to explain his heel turn next week on Nitro. Flair did explain his heel turn, stating a fourth member of The Horsemen will be added next week on Nitro. Both turns were predictable but it will be interesting how Luger plays in this role. This might be leading to Hogan vs. Luger in the near future.

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Monday Night Raw Highlight of the Night
Goldust made his WWE Raw debut on October 30, 1995, defeating Savio Vega. Goldust’s character becomes edgier as months progress. Goldust is Dustin Rhodes from WCW the past few years. Actually, Dustin Rhodes wrestled during his father’s Dusty last WWE match back at the Royal Rumble 1991. Dustin didn’t stay with the WWE and went to WCW for a couple of years. Everyone will remember Dustin Rhodes’ career as Goldust.

Ahmed Johnson made his debut on Raw as well, but not in a match. During the main event of Raw (Razor Ramon vs. Owen Hart), Ahmed and Yokozuna interfered during the match. Ahmed then bodyslammed Yokozuna in the only major highlight of Raw this week. Very good hype to the wild card match at Survivor Series. It’s going to be interesting to see the babyfaces and the heels in one team as they try to coexist.

Vince McMahon plugged his own 900 hotline, updating the condition of Shawn Michaels. The WWE needed to clarify the facts since WCW made Michaels look bad last week when Gene Okerlund said that Michaels got beat up in a nightclub as if he fought one-on-one. Michaels will return next week in house shows. The WWE is now pushing Michaels to the moon. McMahon keeps stressing that Michaels is now the “most flamboyant, resilient, and charismatic superstar in the WWE.” Since the attack in the nightclub, Michaels will be portrayed as being resilient for coming back too quickly.

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Monday Night War News Flash
(This section is dedicated to WWE-WCW news during the month of October. It will take place the last week of the month)
List of Champions: WWE Champion: Diesel, IC Champion: Shawn Michaels, Tag Team Champions: Smoking Gunns; WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan, US Champion: Ric Flair, Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat

One of the biggest names in WCW, Big Van Vader was released from the company this month. Vader is likely to sign with WWE when he gets the chance. The WWE needs heels right now because their roster is full of inconsistent heels. Jeff Jarrett and Dean Douglas come to mind. Either they get hurt or they end up quitting.

Steve Austin is in talks with the WWE, which would become one of the great acquisitions this winter. As of right now, Austin is with ECW, working some matches and also delivering some great shoot promos directed at Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan.

WCW is having a working relationship with New Japan. It looks like the cruiserweights such as Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit (just to name a few) are being pushed so they can wrestle against the stars from New Japan. This was definitely one of the best ideas ever put together by Bischoff. Bischoff was very close to Sonny Onoo, who was in charge of bringing some talent from New Japan.

Expect major shuffling between WWE and WCW in coming months. As stated before, Vader and Steve Austin are likely candidates to sign with WWE soon. Adam Bomb is ready to leave the WWE. I always liked Adam Bomb, but he was not properly pushed by the WWE. He will join WCW in 1996. Notable wrestlers to sign with WWE soon: Brian Pillman, Vader, and Austin. Notable wrestlers to sign with WCW soon: Adam Bomb, Diesel, Razor Ramon, 123 Kid, and Ted DiBiase. DiBiase is not a wrestler, but he is an excellent manager.

Non-Monday Night War ratings info: The WrestleMania XI FOX Special drew a strong 3.8 rating. It was during the same timeslot as Saturday Night’s Main Event back in the 80s and part of the early 90s. Even though the FOX Special aired on September 30th, it was worth noting this month.

Chris Benoit is slated to be pushed first before Guerrero and Malenko. Benoit is going to be fourth Horsemen as the stable is reuniting to make yet another run in WCW.

Upcoming WWE-WCW pay-per-views: WWE Survivor Series ’95 (main event: Bret Hart vs. Diesel for the WWE Title) and WCW World War 3 (60-main battle royal in 3 different rings).

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This Week in Monday Night War History
(May 15-21, 2011)
May 15, 2000 – In one of the most forgettable moments in Nitro history, Kevin Nash defeated Mike Awesome in an ambulance match.

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Monday Night War Key Players
The following wrestlers wrestled on WWE Monday Night Raw and WCW Monday Nitro this particular week (October 30, 1995). Somehow, these wrestlers made an impact on the Monday Night Wars: (They signed with the rival company during this era)

Actually, the wrestlers that performed on Raw and Nitro this week were already discussed in previous editions of Monday Night War Classics or they were not impact players on both shows.

Thank you for reading this week’s edition of Monday Night War Classics. E-mail me your feedback on this week or anything related to the Monday Night War to ofierros@sbcglobal.net – See you next week for Monday Night War Classics – Week 10: Interactive Nitro (11/6/95)